Is it time to give your real estate website a makeover?
Ugly real estate websites can be a major obstacle, and prevent even good investors from doing more business. Consumers are becoming increasingly demanding about who they do business with. That said, they will view your website with a critical eye. So how do you know if your site is passing their better judgment? Do you think it is time you rehabbed your website to meet their increasing needs?
How to Know if it is Time to Remodel your Real Estate Website
5 Signs it is time to up your online game:
- You know it is just plain ugly
- Your competitor’s sites are far more visually appealing
- Your website is not mobile responsive
- Your blog or visitor numbers are falling off
- You are getting traffic, but low conversion rates
7 Ways Poor Real Estate Web Design Impacts Your Potential & Results
- Credibility
- Trust
- Value placed on your business, product, services
- Perception of how serious you are about your business
- Perception of how well you take care of prospects, investments, and referrals
- Ability to attract financing and investment
- Conversion rates
If your website isn’t looking good, people are less likely to take you seriously, trust you, and believe you will serve them well. Your intentions and ability to deliver have nothing to do with it. Appearances do matter. If people don’t see you are serious enough to invest a few hundred dollars in serving them with a good website; how can they trust you’ll take great care of them?
Ultimately this will make all the difference in overall marketing ROI, deal flow, net income, and how much your business is worth. With the millions on the line, it is hard to argue against investing in a reasonably good looking real estate website.
What Does a Good Real Estate Website Look Like Today?
A good real estate website doesn’t have to be crazy expensive or complicated. It needs to be pleasing to the eye. Above all, it should be clean and simple.
There are arguments for very busy sites with tons of information and tools, but it is critical never to lose sight of your main goal: branding. Basic is better than busy, provided it looks good, and has the features needed to get people to act: calls to action and contact information. You can always add-on, expand, improve, and upgrade later as the profits role in.
How Often Should Real Estate Pros Makeover Their Websites?
Just like homes and home furniture, real estate websites don’t last in appeal and effectiveness forever. They need maintenance, trends change, and every once in a while they need to be replaced.
You know what a 30 year old sofa looks like. The one that few guests trust to sit on. Yet, whether it cost $300 or $30,000 it will probably need re-upholstering or replacing in a few years. Even Google frequently makes over their logo. And like with interior design there are major shifts in design trends every half a decade or so. We’ve just been through one; making this a great time to settle in with an up to date design for the next 5 to 10 years. Then anticipate making regular updates on that cycle to stay relevant.
Leveraging Your Real Estate Website Design to Maximize ROI
If you are investing in a website re-design – make the most of it. This is a great time to make a marketing and PR push, and bring visitors and past clients surging to your site. Do this by launching new press releases to highlight your re-design, sending email blasts, alerting local journalists and bloggers, hitting the social media circuit, and enjoy an SEO and lead generation boost.
Have you made over your site recently? Let us know what you have to show off!
